Friends or Lovers
by adagio11
Summary: Together, all the changes between them had become this. [TATE][Meaningless fluff]


**Friends or Lovers**

**Pairing: **Tony and Kate

**Summary: **Together, all the changes between them had become this.

**Disclaimer: **Nothing's mine! So don't sue me, please.

**Author's Note: **I was bored. This is what I came up with. Please review! I want to know what you all think about my pretty pointless fluffy little oneshot. Title obviously taken from the episode _Friends and Lovers _

**Author's Note 2: **Jos, I'm still like a fic machine :P

* * *

Kate hated days like these. When all she wanted to do was go back home and sink down between her sheets and don't go up for another 24 hours. Today was exactly one of those days. She took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator. Tony was already sitting by his desk, Gibbs wasn't there but his coat was on his desk along with a cup of coffee. 

"Hi there, Katie" Tony greeted her cheerfully.

"Hi" she mumbled quietly, not even turning to face him. She tossed her jacket onto the file cabinet behind her desk and then began to boot up her computer. Gibbs came after a few minutes, said a gruffly good morning and then took off again, this time he brought his coffee. Kate sighed and tried to concentrate on her report.

"What's up?" Tony came and sat on the edge of her desk. She shot him a glare that said she wasn't in the mood.

"Whoa! Someone's in a mood today. You wanna share why?" Tony teased and received another glare from his co-worker.

"No. Now leave" Kate snapped. Not seeing any fun in sticking around a grumpy Kate, Tony walked back to his own desk. He eyed her for a moment and couldn't help but feel a little bit hurt. That she wouldn't talk to him.

But they didn't do that. No. They bickered, hit each other, and trusted each other with their lives. But they didn't talk. At least not really. Of course the spoke about cases and a few personal experiences. But nothing more. Nothing private, and definitely not about emotions. Kate still had that resolute expression on her face. She was thinking. She was in deep in thought and then, it was hard to snap her out of it. Tony cast on last glance at her before going back to his own report.

Kate felt Tony's eyes on her but didn't look up at him. Today she was definitely not in the mood for one of his pranks or sexist jokes. If he did something like that, she was sure she would snap and began to yell at him. For nothing really. She was just not in the mood and when she was pissed, it was him who she often yelled at. Suddenly she felt a bit guilty. She often accused him and said pretty rude stuff just because she had a bad day. She never apologized. Not afterwards either, even if she had one of her good days. They didn't do that. They didn't apologize. It wasn't a part of their odd relationship. They teased and fought but never apologized. The next day was a new day and they started from square one again. But now she wanted to apologize. He'd been nice and said good morning and then wondered what was bugging her. Even if he put it in his own childish DiNozzo way. But still, he'd asked her and she'd done nothing but snapping at him. She really should apologize. If it had been Abby, Gibbs, McGee or Ducky she would've apologized immediately. Not to Tony. They just didn't do that. She took a deep breath and then looked up.

"Hey, Tony?"

"Yeah?" he didn't look up at her.

"Um…I'm sorry"

"For what?" Now he turned up his face and met her eyes.

"For…snapping. I'm having just having a bad day. And I let it out on you. I'm sorry"

"Yeah, it's fine"

Then they both returned to work. Tony slightly surprised. Kate never apologized.

"Still not wanna share?"

"Um…My brother and his wife are separating. My niece called me and cried for 45 minutes. I'm just…"

"Having a bad day" Tony finished for her. Kate shot him a gentle smile. "Yeah.."

* * *

A few weeks later they'd fallen into that pattern. Actually apologizing when they crossed the line a little bit too often. Not in front of the others of course. Not really knowing why, they took the other aside to apologize. And in their odd relationship, they always forgave each other. Kate had thought a lot about it. Their relationship. How should she define it? Friends. No, friends didn't cut it since they completely trusted the other with their life and often spend more than 24 hours in a row together. They'd unconsciously learned a lot about each other, just by typing reports and working crime scenes. Working a crime scene, that's what they were doing right now. A old woman walking her dog had found the body of a young petty officer under a tree in the woods right outside of Richmond. 

"Kate, photos. Tony, sketches. McGee, evidence. I'll talk to the dog lady" Gibbs barked and took off, his coffee in hand of course. The agents were working on their task as Kate gave up a small shriek. Tony's head snapped up. Kate was sitting on the ground, bleeding from her arm since she'd rolled up her sleeves.

"Hey, you okay?" Tony walked over to her and knelt beside her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That stupid bush doesn't like me" She gestured towards a bush a few feet away, which wasn't anything else but a ball of thorns. Kate grimaced.

"It stings"

"Here" Tony handed her a tissue from the bag with equipment. Gratefully, Kate accepted it and placed it on the cuts.

"Thanks, Tony"

"Sure you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" she grimaced slightly as she pressed onto the bleeding cuts. Still looking pretty worried, Tony gently ran his thumb over her cheek before going back to process the crime scene.

Kate looked after him. That was new. He had obviously been worried. Now he tossed a glance behind his back. He smiled. Kate smiled back, still surprised of what just happened. That was another thing they never used to do. Worry about each other like this. They'd both laughed when the other fell or something like that. Now he'd assured himself twice that she was fine before he left. And how he touched her cheek like that, it was actually rather…sweet. Her cuts had stopped bleeding by now so she removed the tissue and continued to snap photos before Gibbs came back and saw her do nothing.

* * *

They continued with this as well, along with the apologies they showed much more worry now. Gibbs sometimes glanced oddly at them when they constantly uttered the words:" You okay?" But the ex-marine didn't say anything. They were friends and co-workers. Of course they were worried for the other. Tony had noticed the small change between them. He tried to find a reason for this little improvement. Why he suddenly seemed so worried about Kate. The only logical explanation he found was far from rational. She was Kate. Of course he worried about her. 

Kate as well, still tried to put a name on their relationship. Friends was so…shallow. Siblings, no. Maybe this was one of those strange strong relationships you read about in books. Often that was a romantic one. No, Tony and herself were definitely not partners in that way. But then, what was it? One day, it was Tony who came in to the office looking pretty down. Not hesitating to ask now, Kate walked over to him.

"You okay, Tony?" Before the weekend he'd been happy as usual, teasing her as he always did. Today he looked so serious. He rarely had this look on his face. He tossed his bag onto the floor.

"I have to go home for a few days"

"Why? Everything alright?" now it was obvious how worried she was.

"My uncle's died"

"I'm so sorry, Tony"

He just shrugged, still not looking up at her. "We were probably closer than I was to my father"

"Tony, I'm so sorry. Anything I can do?"

"No…no it's fine. Thanks Kate" He looked up. Giving him a sympathetic smile Kate placed her hand to his cheek like he'd done with her several times.

"Tell me if you need anything" He nodded. "Yeah, thanks"

Later that afternoon, Tony talked to Gibbs and got permission to leave for a few days. During those days Kate was very worried. Gibbs could tell by the way she seemed to be busy with her own thoughts all the time. Tony was gone for three days, during those days Kate called every night. Not really knowing why. They didn't say much. She asked if he was fine, he said he was. Then they barely spoke for another 15 minutes before they hung up, Kate once again assuring that he was okay. When he came home neither of them mentioned it.

* * *

Kate anxiously paced the Autopsy. It was late. Ducky had left long before she came down here. Palmer was gone as well. Only one light was on. Except for that, it was only her. And the corpses. Her heels echoed within the walls as she rounded the slab and walked back the way she came. She'd been up in the bullpen, trying to write her report but it had been too much. She would have to go over the photos again. Read the statements again. She didn't want to do that. Today they'd closed a very tough case. They'd worked it for almost three weeks and it was getting on everyone's nerves. Gibbs kept everything to himself, Kate didn't think she'd spoken to him for at least four days. She tapped her finger against her chin as she always did when she didn't know what to do, when things got to overwhelming. It had been a child-case. Kate hated cases with children. Really really hated them. An old woman had gone to her son's house to find her five year-old grandson dead in the living room. While calling the police she discovered her son's and daughter in law's bodies in the backyard pool. Kate had barely been able to get her statement because the poor woman had obviously been in shock. The motive was almost silly. It was over a car. The commander had been in a car accident a while ago and totally trashed this other man's car. Kate had almost laughed when the man confessed. He killed three people – one child – for a frickin' car! Not even Tony was that car-crazy. 

Kate once again rounded the slab and picked up her pace. She hated when she got this overwhelmed, when she couldn't sort out her emotions and regain control over the current situation. Suddenly the doors swoosh open and revealed a rather exhausted Tony. He'd working hard on this too. Not cracking that many jokes. He walked in without a word and sat down on the closest slab. Kate remained by Ducky's desk.

"How did you find me?"

Tony shrugged. "You okay, Kate?" Standard question. She heard that almost everyday. First there was good morning followed with a how are you?´ and if she didn't smile when she entered the bullpen he said you okay, Kate?´ Always the same worried serious tone she'd acquainted with a few months ago, when Tony'd been worried about the cuts on her arm.

"I…don't know" she replied. "I..-" to her surprised, tears began to flow down her cheeks. "Nothing should be too much for us, Tony. This is…" she said after a while, not trying to hide her tears. After all, this was just work. She did this to pay her bills and go through life like anybody else. But well, to her it was more than a job, it always had been. Others might teach out math in a classroom, or sit in a office, shuffling through papers until the sun went down. She didn't. In other professions, you could leave your work at work. Not take it home. She always did. From the gun under her pillow all the way to the mental and physical experiences.

"I understand" Tony said. There it was again. That sympathetic soft tone. He eyed her. This wouldn't have happened a few months ago. Then she would never cry in front of him. No way in hell. But now she did. A few months ago he wasn't sure if he even would've gone to look for her. This was also new. Like a lot of other things that had changed recently. This, usually, didn't come with their odd relationship, which he still didn't know what to call. Confiding and showing off emotions wasn't something they were used to do. Seeing Kate cry, leaned against Ducky's desk Tony felt a pang of hurt. Kate was hurting. Without a single word he stood up and walked over to her. Then he wrapped her in his arms. Not just a quick, reassuring hug but a warm comforting hug. He felt Kate lean into him without hesitating. Feeling her tears on his shirt he held her tighter. They never did this either. They were never ever physical with each other unless they were hitting each other or helping each other out on crime scenes.

He held her for a good while. Kate usually didn't like to be comforted like this, to have someone let her seem weak. But now she was just thankful. After a while, they left Autopsy. Now when they'd broken that barrier, they didn't think as much when they were physical with each other. Kate never thought she would enjoy body contact like this. Slowly Kate began to realize that it got more complicated to define her relationship to Tony. The fact that they never showed any of this kind of affection in front of the others. With the others they still fought and hit each other. But when they were alone it was like someone turned a switch. Their faces softened and their tones changed. But neither of them ever mentioned anything.

* * *

It was now more than a year since that day when Kate had the guts to apologize to Tony for snapping. Still, she couldn't define their relationship. He often called her. They didn't say much as usual, just exchanged a few words, still they managed to stay on the phone for hours. They hid it from everybody else. Even Abby. She didn't seem to know. She was apparently not at all aware of what her friends did when nobody was watching. The comforting hugs they shared, the quick squeezes of a hand and the long hours phone calls didn't seem to have registered even for the lab tech. But soon it would be revealed. It was past midnight. Gibbs had forced them to stay and finish their reports since the pile had grown so big that it had been moved to the floor. 

"I hate this" Tony said.  
"But the faster you do it, the faster it'll be gone" Kate reasoned.

"She's right, DiNozzo" It came from Gibbs. He typed something and then grabbed his coffee cup.

"I'm going for a refill. If you two is not here when I come back, you're fired" With that Gibbs took off.

"I can't believe Probie was allowed to go home"

"He had no reports" Kate replied, still focusing on her file. Tony sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"How come? I know he's MIT-smart but not _that _smart!" Tony exclaimed. Kate just laughed at him, still not looking up. Suddenly something hit her forehead and her face snapped up. She was met by Tony's smug grin, him holding a pack of paperclips in his hand.

"Do that again, and I'll castrate you"

"No you won't"

"Don't test me, DiNozzo! I promise, I will"

Now standing, Tony chucked a few more paperclips in Kate's direction. Annoyed, she turned her face up at him as he reached her desk, pouring paperclips onto her desk.

"Leave, I have to finish this if I want to go home before it's time to get back again"

"You're boring me, Kate. Gibbs won't be back yet, we can have some fun!" She shot him another glare. "Go, Tony!"

"Nope"

"Don't start this again" Kate sighed. But Tony remained by her desk. In a flash, Kate was up on her feet and tackled him to the floor.

"LEAVE. Now" she stood above him, giving him that glare again but her eyes also held an obvious glint of amusement. Smiling mischievously, Tony kicked her in the crook of her knee. With no time to react Kate fell down, half on top of him.

"So this is how you want it, huh?" Tony questioned, raising a brow.

"You suck, Tony"

"I know" he chuckled and she smiled down at him as she began to get up. But Tony pulled her back down and suddenly they both looked deadly serious.

This was another of the changes in their odd, still indefinable relationship. They both knew it.

"We should finish, Gibbs'll be back any minute" Kate said softly but still not making another attempt to get up.

"We should" Tony replied, his face only centimetres from hers. The next moment their lips met. It wasn't awkward at all, it fell natural. Like all the other things that had happened between them this past year.

"What was that for?" Tony playfully asked as they parted. Kate remained resting on his chest.

"No idea" They kissed again and then reluctantly stood.

Gibbs walked out of the elevator, upon not seeing his agents by their desk he stopped for a moment. Why could they never do as he told them to? He was just about to burst into the bullpen when he heard a I know´ from the floor. Then it became quite. Then he heard Kate's voice We should finish, Gibbs'll be back any minute_ ´ _He frowned. What was going on? He heard Tony agree with her. A few moments later Gibbs heard a soft sound and a what was that for?´ _What the hell? _Were Kate and Tony _making out _in the bullpen? How long had they done this? Now both his agents stood, looking all flushed. They turned around and both their eyes widened. Tony was the first one to regain his voice.

"Oh crap"

* * *

Their supervisor didn't fire them. He didn't yell either. He just eyed them warily and then walked back into the bullpen. Five minutes after almost unbearable tension he let them go. Knowing better, they quickly grabbed their stuff and scrambled into the elevator. 

"We shouldn't do this…Gibbs is so pissed…He'll fire one of us…I know, we can't do this…Is he really pissed?…No idea" they both rambled simultaneously. They stared at each other and then laughed.

"So…what now?" Tony asked a bit uncertain. This was new. And bigger than all those other changes that had occurred. Then, they were still…they. Their relationship had stayed the same. But now, if they continued this, they would be lovers. Their relationship would be definable.

"I don't know…" Kate suddenly felt unsure and turned down her face to the floor. The elevator arrived to the main floor and they both stepped out. The foyer was empty since it was almost two in the morning. They walked in silence. Kate felt that she had to say something. This had changed everything. Everything else hadn't put a name on their relationship.

Tony glanced at her as they walked down to the main entrance. He was surprised to still see her as he'd always seen her. At least knowing what _he _wanted, he hesitantly reached out and grabbed her hand. She tensed but after a few breathless moments from Tony's side, she laced her fingers with his. Looking up, she smiled. Tony leant over a quickly kissed her.

At least their relationship had a name now. The small things that slowly had been added to their current relationship, together became this. They both knew they took a huge risk, but neither of them was worried at all.

* * *

**Author's note: So how was that? Boring? Corny? Strange? Please review and won't torment you guys with fluff like this ever again ;)**

**//Ida **


End file.
